Dixon, Shepard indicted on capital murder charges in Sonnier case

Sonnier, the chief pathologist for Covenant Health System was found dead in his home July 11

A Lubbock County grand jury indicted plastic surgeon Thomas Michael Dixon and businessman David Neal Shepard on Thursday on two counts each of capital murder in the shooting-stabbing death of pathologist Joseph Sonnier III in July.

The two Amarillo men face charges of murder with remuneration and murder in commission of a burglary, according to the indictments.

Sonnier, the chief pathologist for Covenant Health System, was found dead in his home July 11. He had been shot and stabbed.

In a related matter, the Avalanche-Journal attempted to view court files related to Sonnier’s will, but the will was filed under seal.

Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney Matt Powell said his office still has much work to do before a trial date is set.

While the charge is capital murder, he said, no decision has been made about seeking the death penalty against either Dixon or Shepard.

He said Lubbock police are a few weeks away from finishing their investigation, and the county Medical Examiner’s Office will need even more time to finish its work on the case.

“We’ll go all the way back to elementary school records on these guys,” Powell said. “We want to know everything we can about them.” The indictments were handed down in a special session of the Lubbock County grand jury that was empaneled for August, Powell said.

“We asked them for an extra half-day and this was the day they picked,” he said, adding the evidence in the Sonnier murder was the only case before them Thursday morning.

The grand jury meets on Tuesdays and routinely hears presentations on as many as 100 criminal complaints in a day.

In the days following the arrests of Dixon and Shepard, investigators said they believed jealousy was the motive for the killing. Sonnier’s girlfriend, whose name police have withheld because she is a potential witness, had previously dated Dixon. After they broke up, he kept trying to see her.

Police said they believe Dixon paid Shepard three silver bars with a total value of about $9,000 to kill Sonnier.

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Pending capital murder cases

The slaying of physician Joseph Sonnier III is the fourth capital murder case being developed by the Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.

There are three other cases, with a total of five defendants. The cases are:

■ Sampson Blake Oguntope, 21, who was indicted in March for the gunshot slaying in February of 89-year-old Faye Bowen Gray in Slaton.

■ Sesilio Caballero Lopez Jr., 29, and Brian Cliff Suniga, 32, who were indicted in February for the December gunshot slaying of David Rowser. Lopez and Suniga are accused of shooting Rowser, an employee at One Guy From Italy restaurant, as they stole the restaurant’s tip jar.

■ Casey Shawn Ledbetter, 38, and Meredith Jonell Ledbetter, 29, who were indicted in August 2011 for the murders of Derek Ryan Hale, 26, and his mother, Joanie Deeanne Parker, 49. Hale and Parker were killed at different times, but their bodies were found on the same property near Idalou in May 2011.